Illumination systems operating at EUV, DUV, or UV wavelengths, among others, are often desirable for semiconductor inspection and analysis. A material inspection or analysis system may utilize a plasma-based illumination source, such as a discharge produced plasma (DPP) source, to provide illumination at a selected wavelength. Under current methods, a fuel gas may be pumped into a chamber of the plasma-based illumination source to fuel plasma discharge. Illumination resulting from the plasma discharge may emanate from an illumination origin of the plasma-based illumination source along an illumination path.
Illumination transferred along the illumination path may be accompanied by debris, such as ions and particles, emitted from the plasma discharge, which may cause damage and reduce the illumination. Debris may be mitigated by employing additional devices or systems to remove at least a portion of debris from the illumination path. However, additional systems or devices for debris mitigation tend to increase the size and complexity of an illumination system and also tend reduce the overall illumination output. Thus plasma-based illumination sources are often limited to applications that do not require relatively high illumination power.